“Kim Shin-young’s self-made health food mukbang despite laryngitis: ‘Adults shouldn’t act out; if you’re sick, you have to eat through it!'”
Comedian Kim Shin-young highlighted the weight of responsibility that comes with being a broadcaster.
In the May 15 episode of MBC’s ‘I Live Alone’ (Episode 647), we got a glimpse into the daily life of homebody Kim Shin-young.
After finishing her radio schedule, Kim Shin-young wasn’t feeling her best. She revealed, “I was sick. It started with pollen allergies and rhinitis, and then it turned into laryngitis. That was actually my most painful day.”
Despite this, she didn’t let it stop her. She started with a self-haircut, explaining, “(Cutting my hair) alone has been my routine for 10 years. I have really thick hair. At first, I used to travel from Mapo to Gangnam to go to a salon, but it just wasn’t working. I decided to ‘develop the skill’ myself. I started with a dog clipper, and I ended up looking like a Maltese! After realizing that actually hurt my skin, I bought a proper human one. Now, I shave it to 3mm every three weeks.”
After showering and cleaning the bathroom, she dove into a mukbang to boost her immunity. She was seen eating a large bowl of mashed strawberries mixed with rice syrup. “This is medicine. I’m not eating it for the taste,” she claimed. “It’s a folk remedy passed down from my grandmother. It’s for vitamins and sugar to strengthen the throat. Whenever I have a cold, I always eat this. It’s way better than strawberry syrup. It’s like a health tonic for me.”
After her “light” appetizer, she mixed rice and stir-fried anchovies in a mixing bowl and ate them wrapped in seaweed while standing in the kitchen. When Jun Hyun-moo wondered, “Usually, people lose their appetite with laryngitis, right?” Kim Shin-young emphasized the power of rice, saying, “You have to eat when you’re sick!”
Surprisingly, this wasn’t even the main meal. As she started making tteokbokki, the Rainbow members were amazed, noting that her home cooking is “restaurant style.” When she explained that the anchovy rice was just a snack while preparing the side for the tteokbokki, Code Kunst joked, “Now I know why you don’t lose weight,” sparking laughter.
After completing her customized tteokbokki with plenty of glass noodles (dangmyeon), she shared, “The real health food is whatever I love. It makes me sweat! Duck or samgyetang are great, but glass noodles are a must. I need my daily dose of glass noodles.”
However, she suddenly stopped her tteokbokki feast. She explained, “This happens about three times a year. When I get a nasal cold or bronchitis, I lose my sense of taste. It tastes great at first, but as the fever rises, my nasal passages swell up and I can’t taste anything. That’s when you have to be firm and put it down.”
But the mukbang wasn’t over! After cleaning up, she naturally started snacking on fried fish fillets while watching TV. Jun Hyun-moo and Code Kunst were baffled, asking, “What’s the difference between when you’re sick and when you’re not?” and “You said your nose was paralyzed two minutes ago!”
Next up was ice cream. She poured an entire tub of ice cream into a mixing bowl and topped it with crushed potato chips. She insisted, “Moms give kids ice cream when they have tonsillitis or a cold. You have to lower the fever with ice cream. It’s medicine. I’m only doing this because I’m sick.”
Kian84 worried about her health, asking, “Do you eat everything out of a mixing bowl all day? You’ll get hyperlipidemia!” Park Ji-hyun was also impressed, saying, “For someone with a cold, you really eat well.” When Kim Shin-young shamelessly claimed, “You have to eat to get better; you need things that slide down easily,” Kian84 jokingly requested, “Please stop linking your eating to your illness.”
Feeling her condition dip, she left some ice cream behind and dragged her tired body to organize the dried laundry. Only after finishing all her chores did she finally lie down on the sofa. She shared her philosophy: “It’s sad to be sick, but it’s sadder to be lazy. You can’t cry. If you’re filled with self-pity, you just become a pitiful person. Who’s going to wash the socks? ‘Sad Shin-young’ has to wash them. You have to return to reality. If you’re sick, go to the hospital or get an IV. When we were students, we’d ask, ‘Can I go to the nurse’s office?’ But if we do that while broadcasting—saying, ‘Can I go to the nurse’s office? I really want to go home because I feel bad’—you’ll hit rock bottom (narak). You must take 100% responsibility for yourself.”
She added, “People are naturally sick. There’s no time for emotions, romance, or sorrow. Everyone gets a cold and everyone gets better. I went to the hospital on Sunday, and there were 40 people behind me. Everyone is sick. Instead of wasting time crying and saying, ‘I’m so sick, come help me,’ just go to the hospital. A 43-year-old can’t scream ‘Aaaah!’ during a hip injection. What if someone posts, ‘Kim Shin-young acted like a [CENSORED] and screamed’? As an adult, you have to endure. It’s not about acting your age; it’s about not acting foolishly. You have to live vigorously on your own two feet. If you’re sick, you have to eat through it!” This explanation for her day-long eating spree caught everyone’s attention.
